The Lord Jesus Christ and His Apostles

The Lord left his apostles with instructions and with great gifts. The instructions are listed in several distinct places, but the the gifts are more scattered, both in the four gospels and in the book of Acts later, being given as the apostles needed them.

First, about the apostles... just to clarify, here I'm referring to "the disciples" as including anyone who has followed along to hear the Lord, and "the apostles" to mean the twelve men that the Lord recruited specifically, as listed in Matthew 10, Mark 3, and Luke 6.

Who were the apostles? From the lists in Matthew and Mark, which are the same, we have: Simon (Peter), James and John the sons of Zebedee, Andrew (Peter’s brother), Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew (the publican), Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, (as is Matthew, so they are brothers, too), Thaddeus, (also known as Libbeus), Simon the Canaanite (also called Simon the Zealot), and Judas Iscariot. Bartholomew is almost undoubtedly another name for Nathaniel, see John 1. The list in Luke includes another Judas, "Judas the brother of James" and doesn’t have Thaddeus.

The stories of how they were individually chosen differ, especially in the gospel of John, but that these twelve were appointed by the Lord is clear. A point of interest is that - other than Simon the Canaanite and Judas Iscariot they are all from towns around the sea of Galilee - and perhaps those two are as well. These twelve have their names inscribed on the twelve foundations of the walls of the holy city New Jerusalem, in Revelation 21:14 in which there are also the twelve gates. These men were chosen to represent all the different states of the natural human being that can be receptive of the Lord. They are from Galilee because Galilee represents that natural state of the human mind. The number twelve in the Word represents all possible states of mankind.

What is indicated here is that all people, everywhere, can be saved or regenerated if they repent and turn to the Lord in their lives. No one is "outside" of His reach. We are born natural, everyone is, but we are so formed that our minds can be raised to what is higher, called spiritual for our conceptions of Divine truth, or Celestial for our perceptions of Divine good. But we all start in a natural state and can only move upward by listening to the Lord’s teachings in His Word, and following Him as those Apostles did.

Not all of our natural states are states of good; they can be selfish, domineering, and cruel. But the Lord said that He came "not to save the just but to call sinners to repentance". Perhaps this is why Simon the Canaanite and Judas were two that He called. Simon is little known, but in some places in the Word, "Canaan signifies an external worship without a true internal worship". (See Arcana Coelestia 1060). Can the Lord work with that - with external worship that's internally barren? Yes, as a starting point. And, even Judas, who betrayed the Lord so terribly, we are told, repented of his betrayal of the Lord. (Matthew 27:3-5)

The Lord's Instructions to the Apostles

The two most comprehensive sets of instructions are in Luke 10:1-17 where seventy Disciples are sent out two by two, apparently to a specified list of cities that Jesus intends to visit, and then in Matthew 20:1-19 where the chosen twelve Apostles are sent out to all Israel. Later, as recorded in different epistles, the Apostles go out further, through a wide region.

The basic instructions were to preach that the kingdom of heaven is near, that all should be led to repent of their sins, and that all who wish should be baptized in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The Apostles should not take any money or extra clothing along, and they were to depend entirely on the Lord’s providence with no doubt that they shall be welcomed, fed, and sheltered. If they were welcomed, they should stay and preach the good news about the risen Lord and His teachings, and if they were not, they should shake from their feet the dust of that place and go on to a place where they were welcome. See Matthew 10, 28, Mark 13, 16, Luke 9, 10:24.

There are several assurances for the twelve. The Lord has told them to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit is sent to strengthen them, and in John 20 where the ten are gathered it is said that He breathed on them and said, "Receive ye the Holy Spirit". Also, in his long talk with them in John 14, 15, 16) He assures them that his crucifixion and death are necessary to his mission and they should even rejoice that it is coming. He shows them from scripture that it has all been prophesied from long ago, (see Mark 4:34) and that what seems to them a tragedy, is truly His glorification and the end of the work He came to do. They, His twelve, are in the same steam of providence and will be protected. "Don’t be anxious," He tells them, "I will put into your mouths what you are to say, I will bring into your memories the incidents to tell to the people".

Here is a listing of the chapters and verses in John where such things are said: John 14:1-3, 10, 16-18, 26-28, 15:11, 16, 26-27, 16:7, 13-15, 22, 26-27, 33. Or simply read the three chapters and pick out your favorites.

A marvelous gift is mentioned in Matthew 10:13, "But blessed are your eyes for they see and blessed are your ears, for they hear…".

In the book of Acts, the Lord vividly shows the apostles that when they speak in their Galileen dialect every listener will hear their words as his own language in his ears; not gibberish, but Arabic to the Arabs, Greek to the Greeks, and Latin to the Romans.

When Peter starts to preach to a gathering of sympathetic Jews he speaks clearly and unafraid, saying that Jesus of Nazareth was the Son of God and that people should worship Him openly and repent of how they might have felt earlier. Peter’s talk in Acts 3 and 4 is a bold and powerful one. No more hiding behind locked doors.

The early history of the Christian church shows just how well all this worked out. You know what? The Apostles preached to the peoples in the Near East 2000 years ago, and their preaching is just as relevant today as it was then: "Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Being at hand has nothing to do with the date or the state of political history in the world, it has to do with the inside of your mind. The Lord is just as close to you now as He was then, and He never turns away, though we might turn away from him. Remember that He said "behold I stand at the door and knock and if anyone hears and opens the door He will come right in." This hasn’t changed nor will it ever change, but He leaves us in freedom to ignore His knocking, if that is what we want. We have to make the choice, but He is always ready if we choose to open the door.

359. And he went forth conquering and that He might conquer, signifies the removal of evils and of falsities thence to the end of life, and afterwards to eternity. This is evident from the signification of "to conquer" in the Word as being to conquer spiritually, which is to subjugate evils and falsities; but as these are not conquered otherwise than that they are taken away by the Lord, "to conquer" signifies the removal of evils and falsities. (That evils and falsities are removed, and not wiped out, or that man is withheld from them, and kept in good and truth by the Lord, see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 166; and Arcana Coelestia 865, 868, 887, 894, 929, 1581, 2116, 2406, 4564, 8206, 8393, 8988, 9014, 9333-9338, 9446-9448, 9451, 10057, 10060.) It is said "he went forth conquering and that He might conquer," and "He went forth conquering" signifies the removal of evils and of falsities thence to the end of life; "and that He might conquer" signifies their removal afterwards to eternity; for he who fights against evils and falsities and conquers them, in the world even to the end of life, conquers them to eternity; for such as man is at the end of his life in consequence of his past life, such he remains to eternity. "To conquer" signifies to conquer spiritually, because the Word is in its bosom spiritual, that is, in its bosom it treats of spiritual things, and not of earthly things; the earthly things that are in the sense of its letter merely serve its spiritual sense as a basis, into which spiritual things close and in which they are. "To conquer [or to overcome]" has a like signification in the following passages.

[2] In Revelation:

To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God (Revelation 2:7).

He that overcometh shall not be hurt by the second death (Revelation 2:11).

He that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end, I will give him power over the nations (Revelation 2:26).

He that overcometh I will make him a pillar in the temple of God (Revelation 3:12).

He that overcometh I will give to him to sit with Me in My throne (Revelation 3:21).

They overcame the dragon through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of the testimony (Revelation 12:11).

He that overcometh shall possess all things, and I will be to him God, and he shall be to Me a son (Revelation 21:7).

And in John:

Jesus [said] to the disciples, These things I have spoken unto you that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but confide, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).

The Lord's "overcoming the world" means that He subjugated all the hells; for "the world" here signifies all evils and falsities, which are from hell (as also in John 8:23; 12:31; 14:17, 19, 30; 15:18, 19; 16:8, 11; 17:9, 14, 16).

[3] "To conquer" has a like signification when predicated of the Lord in Isaiah:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, His garments sprinkled from Bozrah? I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people not a man was with Me; therefore have I trodden them in Mine anger, and trampled them in My wrath; wherefore their victory is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My raiment. But I have made their victory to descend to the earth (Isaiah 63:1, 3, 6).

This treats of the Lord, and His combats against the hells and their subjugation. He Himself in respect to His Divine Human is here meant by Edom, His garments sprinkled from Bozrah," "His garments" signifying the Word in the letter, for "garments" signify truths investing, and in reference to the Lord they signify Divine truths, consequently the Word, since in it are all Divine truths (See above, n. 195). The Word in the sense of the letter is also meant here by "garments," because it contains investing truths, for the sense of the letter serves as a garment to the spiritual sense. And as the Word, in respect to that sense, was torn asunder by the Jewish people, and Divine truth was thereby adulterated, it is said, "His garments sprinkled from Bozrah, their victory is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My raiment," "garments from Bozrah" signify the ultimate of the Word which is the sense of the letter, "their victory upon My garments" signifies the wrong interpretation and application of the truth by those who wrest the sense of the letter to favor their own loves, and the principles thence assumed, as was done by the Jews, and is done also at this day by many; this is meant by "their victory upon My garments."

That the Lord fought alone is signified by "I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people not a man was with Me," "wine-press" signifying combat from Divine truths against falsities, because in wine-presses the wine is pressed out from grapes, and "wine" signifies Divine truth; therefore "to tread it alone, and of the people not a man was with Me," signifies alone, with no aid from anyone. That the Lord subjugated the hells is signified by, "I have trodden them in Mine anger, and trampled them in My wrath;" it is said, "I have trodden" and "I have trampled," because of the reference to the wine-press, and because destruction is signified; it is said, "anger" and "wrath" because the hells are destroyed; and in the sense of the letter this is attributed to the Lord, when nevertheless nothing of anger or wrath pertains to Him, but only to those who are against Him; it is according to appearance that it is so said here and in very many places elsewhere. That such were subjugated and condemned to hell is signified by, "I have made their victory to descend to the earth," "to the earth" meaning into damnation, thus into hell. (That "earth" also signifies damnation, see above, n. 304)